(Minghui.org) Two women in Benxi City, Liaoning Province were sentenced to prison in August 2021 for their faith in Falun Gong, a mind-body practice that has been persecuted by the Chinese communist regime since 1999. The trials were conducted at their homes, by the same judge.
Ms. Gao Peiqin
Ms. Gao Peiqin, 73, was followed by the police on her way home on September 16, 2020. During the brief moment she opened the door, the police slipped in and searched her place in front of her bedridden husband. No officer showed their police ID or search warrant. No confiscation list was provided either.
After taking Ms. Gao to the Hedong Police Station, the officers ordered her to sign a fabricated interrogation record. She insisted that she didn’t violate any law and refused to comply.
When Ms. Gao’s son came to the police station at around 5 p.m. to seek her release, the police forced him to sign a statement about his father’s medical condition. Ms. Gao then returned home with her son.
The police informed Ms. Gao’s son in March 2021 that they were submitting her case to the procuratorate.
Two staff members of the Nanfen District Procuratorate came to Ms. Gao’s home in late May 2021 and asked whether the Falun Gong materials confiscated from her home were hers. Ms. Gao replied that they were her personal property and should be protected by law. She said that it’s the police who illegally ransacked her home without following legal procedure.
Six officials, who didn’t identify themselves, came in early June and told Ms. Gao that she had been indicted and her case had been transferred to them. They also asked whether she could attend the hearing in court. She replied that her husband relied on her to provide care and she couldn’t leave him alone at home.
A month later, on July 14, two officers came to Ms. Gao’s home and ordered her to go with them. She refused. The officers then left.
Yang Chunjiu, the presiding judge of the Nanfen District Court, and 20 police officers came to Ms. Gao’s home on August 25 and held a hearing for her right there. Before leaving, Yang said to Ms. Gao that her verdict would be announced in five days.
The next day, Yang returned with two other plainclothes officers and handed down a four-year prison sentence to her.
Ms. Wang Fengqing
Ms. Wang Fengqing, 74, was shopping at a market on September 23, 2020, when she was approached by Zhang, the deputy head of the Gongren Police Station. Zhang held three calendars with information about Falun Gong and accused Ms. Wang of distributing them.
Zhang brought Ms. Wang to the police station and ordered her to sign a document. Ms. Wang refused to comply. As she failed the physical examination and wasn’t accepted by the local detention center, she was then released on bail.
In early April 2021, Ms. Wang suddenly received a call from the Nanfen District Procuratorate and was told that she had been indicted.
She was arrested at home by Zhang and police chief Wang Qiye on July 19. They claimed that they were taking her for a physical examination and would let her go home afterwards.
The police, however, took Ms. Wang to the Nanfen District Court, where the same judge Yang, mentioned above, ordered the bailiff to take her to the Benxi City Detention Center. While the guards first refused to accept her due to her high blood pressure and cerebral infarction, the police refused to release her and held her at the detention center’s hospital for 13 days. She was allowed to go home on August 2.
On August 13, Yang and three plainclothes officers came to Ms. Wang’s home. Yang held a large pile of paper in his hand, but without telling Ms. Wang what they were. He spoke quickly, such that Ms. Wang didn’t hear clearly.
Six days later on August 19, Yang sentenced Ms. Wang to one year and three months in prison.
Both Ms. Gao and Ms. Wang have appealed with the Benxi City Intermediate Court. It’s not clear whether they have been taken into custody.
Related report:
Even after a Stroke, 74-year-old Woman Still Detained, Husband Persecuted to Death Years Ago
Perpetrators’ contact information:
Xiong Tiening (熊铁宁), Judge, Benxi City Intermediate Court: +86-24-43669166Du Endong (杜恩东), Prosecutor, Benxi City Procuratorate: +86-24-42229020Yang Chunjiu (杨春久), Judge, Nanfen District Court: +86-18641467921, +86-24-42885960
(More perpetrators’ contact information is available in the original Chinese article.)
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